Note the reference to cause and effect. The “effect” represented in the statement: “Our aim is to manifest the fundamental innate mind of clear light, the most subtle level of consciousness, and to remain within that level of mind without regressing to grosser levels.” On the “causes”: the practice of the Great Completeness style of meditation.
Dalai Lama Quote of the Week
Two years ago a Tibetan yogi who practiced the Great Completeness style of meditation in the Nyingma tradition achieved a state of the complete disappearance of his gross physical body, which we call "achieving a rainbow body." His name was Achok, and he was from Nyarong. He studied philosophy from time to time at a Geluk monastic university near Lhasa called Sera, and he also received teachings from my junior tutor Trijang Rinpochay, but his main teacher was the Nyingma lama, Dujom Rinpochay. Although he practiced Tantra according to both the old and new schools of Tibetan Buddhism, his main practice was the recitation of "om mani padme hum" and its accompanying meditation.
Until about three years ago, he frequently said he hoped to have the opportunity of meeting the Dalai Lama in this lifetime. Then, one day he called on his followers to perform offerings for the sake of the Dalai Lama’s life. After they made offerings, he surprised them by announcing that he would leave. He put on his saffron monastic robe and told them to seal him inside his room for a week. His disciples followed his request and after a week opened the room to find that he had completely disappeared except for his robe. One of his disciples and a fellow practitioner came to Dharmsala, where they related the story to me and gave me a piece of his robe.
Since he usually remained in retreat as a very simple monk with no pretensions, unlike some lamas, he proved that he was a good practitioner and finally this occurred. You can see the connection between cause and effect. There are others about whom miracles are claimed, but without the proper causes.
In Highest Yoga Tantra, the potencies–that in ordinary life produce impure environments and beings by way of the very subtle wind and mind–are purified through ppractice of the spiritual path, whereby they are transformed into the pure, altruistic mind, speech, and body of a Buddha. Our aim is to manifest the fundamental innate mind of clear light, the most subtle level of consciousness, and to remain within that level of mind without regressing to grosser levels. However, this purified state is not just mental; it involves body, but a body fashioned from wind, the wind that is the mount of the mind of clear light. The ultimate purpose of these manifestations is to assist others in achieving the same freedom from suffering and limitation.
The center of this process of purification is realization of the luminous and knowing nature of mind–understanding that afflictive emotions such as lust, hatred, enmity, jealousy, and belligerence do not reside in the very essence of mind but are peripheral to it. When the mind knows its own nature and when this knowledge is teamed with powerful concentration, it gradually becomes possible to reduce and finally to overcome the afflictive states that drive the process of repeated suffering. This is the Tibetan view of the intimate relationship between mind and matter, and how they work in the process of altruistically directed purification.
–from Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well and Dying Consciously by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
